


Time to rest

by The_Aggresstable



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Blue dies, Gen, Implied Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Aggresstable/pseuds/The_Aggresstable
Summary: Blue wasn‘t expecting this kind of outcome. He really wasn’t. He had good intentions. But did it truly matter any longer?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Time to rest

They had really left him for dead! 

Blue glared up at the night sky, tightening his grip on his sword. They had left him for dead, not even bringing themselves to deliver a final blow. Cowards, those bandits, all of them. Well, that was a mistake on their part. He knew their faces, their voices, their names. And he would make them pay.

The grass he laid on felt cool, despite the warm summer breeze ruffling his hair. Blue felt grateful for it. He needed some time before he could stand up and pursue, and even though it would be unwise to sleep in his current, vulnerable state, he could at least relax here until his head stopped spinning and his chest aching.

This had been quite the fight, something he didn’t even need to embellish when he told it to Vio and Red later. The frequent attacks on the nearby villages hadn’t left him alone, he just had to check on them! Blue still heard his father’s warning voice in his head, that he shouldn’t go alone, and definitely not at night. But what else had he been supposed to do?! What did their patrols in broad daylight do good, when the bandits only attacked at night? It seemed stupid, and unreasonable, and pointless, and neither of those things sat right with him.

So Blue had gone on his own. Packed his sword, his shield, a health potion, donned some extra chainmail and went to the nearest village, hoping he could help some poor folks out. And within minutes he had been successful. The shine of a campfire gave away the bandit’s location, Blue remembered almost laughing at this obvious beginners mistake as he made his way up the hill, and then… well, this part he might need to change up when he told the story. Suddenly he had been surrounded by six enemies, all wielding some sort of weapon. Three had swords, one a short axe, one carried a club, and the last one swung a mace over his head. Blue had barely time to draw his sword before they attacked.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wincing at the wheezing noise and constricting pain that came with it. The three swords hadn’t been a problem, he had disarmed them within seconds, and the axe wielding bandit basically tripped himself with a particularly powerful but awkward blow, that wouldn’t even have hit if Blue had courteously stepped into it. But the mace and the club… They had given him more trouble. 

Blue opened his eyes again, blinking himself awake. He couldn’t sleep! Not when this mace swinging pseud had given him such a bad hit in the chest that he still felt his bones rattling. Stupid, stupid mistake. But he would pay it forward for sure, once he could find it in himself to stand up. Maybe now was a good time? Blue took another breath -shit, it hurt- and pulled his arms to his side, pressing his free hand flat on the ground and pushed himself up. 

It hurt.

It bled.

His bones were moving where they shouldn’t be moving. 

Blue let out a choked cry and fell back down, his head hitting hard on the soft ground. Fuck. Fuck! He forced himself to take slow, deep breaths to drown out the pain, but it hurt even more and he ended up gasping like a fish on dry land, sweat building up on his forehead. Okay, getting up right now was out of the question, that for sure. But, Goddess- what was that?! Was something stuck in his chest, a dagger he somehow didn’t notice?

Blue mentally prepared himself to find something he didn’t want to find and reached up to his chest, slowly, not to trigger another sudden burst of pain. He let his hand hover above his chest, expecting to maybe brush past a handle, but no, he seemed fine there. Then the issue must be somewhere else. With the utmost care Blue lowered his hand, forcing his breath to steady, and moved it along the fabric of his tunic. He felt something cold and wet and pulled his hand back to see… red. His hand was covered in red liquid! Damn… had the mace’s spikes really penetrated his chainmail? What was the stupid thing even for if it couldn’t even take a blunt hit?! But… no, that wasn’t his blood. Not sticky or hot enough.

Blue let out a frustrated sigh. The health potion! Of course the vial had shattered upon impact! Great, so he could forget that thing. That’s what he got for being annoyed by the clinking on his belt. But that couldn’t have been the whole issue, the shattered glass would never make it through his chainmail and injure him!

Following a bad premonition, Blue held his breath and pressed down onto his sternum, just lightly, but it was enough to send another torturous wave of pain through him and Blue threw his head back and screamed at the sky.

Where his sternum usually offered resistance his hand just sunk into his flesh as if nothing was there, effortlessly denting the skin. Tears welled up in Blue’s eyes, the leaves and stars over his head blurring. He couldn’t fathom it, and yet he knew what was wrong, what didn’t allow him to sit up, let alone stand. Not a knife wound, no, this one hit to his chest had broken something important for sure.

Blue squeezed his eyes shut, letting his hand fall back into the grass. Calm, he had to stay calm. He wasn’t making it back on his own, that he could forget, so he would need help. How long until sunrise? He had left after dark, and it was summer, so guesstimating how long he had walked to the village and then here it shouldn’t be long until the sun stood high at the sky… maybe two hours? Walking here had taken a lot longer than he had anticipated.

Blue took a deep breath, biting his lip at the sting in his lungs. That meant he only had to hang on for a few hours until someone found and helped him. That was doable! Oh, he could already hear his father’s voice scolding him for his recklessness, mixing in with Vio’s and Red’s, but he knew they only meant well. And yet there was one voice missing that had always commented on his behaviour the harshest, but with a smile, a smile he would never see again. Goddess… that he could miss someone that much.

But now he had other problems! Blue grit his teeth, tightening the grip on his sword. The night could be dangerous, and if any monster decided to pay him a visit, he would be prepared. He couldn’t lift his upper body, but he would fight like hell if he had to. Blue would make it home.

Time just didn’t seem to pass. How long had he been staring at those leaves rustling above his head now? Blue didn’t know, like a lot of things. He felt strangely detached from it all, even the sting in his chest whenever he breathed had faded a bit. That… that was a good sign, wasn’t it? Maybe he could make another attempt at sitting up? Yes, he knew he should wait for help but staying outside like this was dangerous and he would much rather avoid it. So best brace himself for more pain again and go for it.

Just that his arms didn’t obey.

Blue frowned, turning his head to the side. His arm and hand was undoubtedly there, but as he tried to focus on moving it, it just didn’t work! As if his brain had lost connection to his limbs. He hissed quietly, turning his head to his sword arm, with the same results. His body felt limp and useless and weak and broken, but that couldn’t be it! He needed to be able to fight! If he couldn’t do that, then… then he would be alone. Defenseless. No, he needed to get the feeling back in his body, he had to get back up and fight! 

“Come on-”, he pressed out, gritting his teeth and lifting his head, forcing his arms to drag along and support his torso, he could do it, he could do it, he could-

Blue let out a sob and fell back, tears obscuring his vision once more. It was so frustrating and painful and terrible, and he wanted it to stop. His revenge could wait. He just wanted to go home.

Eventually, Blue found himself getting lost in memory. Something to comfort him rather than make him think about his situation. Training with his other selves. Their big adventure of sealing Vaati and Ganon away. Shadow, how the annoying demon had been nothing but a pain in the ass in the beginning and then became their friend, sacrificing himself for Hyrule and his own freedom. He respected him for this. And he knew how much Vio still missed him. While he had never gotten all too friendly with Shadow, wouldn‘t it be nice if he was still with them? Alive and well and growing up by their sides? Blue could never forget the speech Green had given as Shadow left them, about how he was just as much of a hero, deserved recognition… all this stuff. Green had been great at this. Telling everyone what they wanted and needed to hear, always that kind of bemused smile on his face that could drive Blue insane, but now… now he would give the world to see this smile again. His throat seized up, breathing getting even harder than it already was. This smile was gone with the rest of Green, six feet underground on the castle grounds. They had build him a pretty grave, worthy of a hero, but Blue had skipped the burial. Instead he had hidden away from his shame and guilt, unable to face the consequences of his doing.

Blue closed his eyes, carefully shaking his head. He didn’t want to think about Green now. Happy memories, hadn’t he been going for that? Not guilt and all that… Not Green. But Goddess, it got so hard to keep a grip on his thoughts.

More time passed, and the leaves rustling above him seemed to get blurrier by the second. He wasn‘t going home, was he? It felt so cruel to leave him here, to let him be alone in the dark. How long until sunrise now? Thinking was so exhausting… He couldn‘t keep track of time anymore. But the sky was getting a little brighter, wasn‘t it?! Blue took a shaky breath, biting his lip at the sting. The pitch black slowly shifted to inky shades of blue for sure, so the night would be over soon. It would be over soon…

Wind brushed past his cheek, brushing through his hair. This felt nice. Comforting. A bit of cooling air on him, when all he could do was lay in the warm night and wait and force himself to stay awake. The leaves above Blue had a soft green glow now, nice and calming and almost hypnotizing, with that gentle pulsing that ran through the light and reflected off of the leaves.

Something moved next to him.

Blue jerked his head to the side, forcing his eyes open through the following dizziness. Nothing. Just an endless view over the hills, although he couldn’t see very far in the dark. But there had been something, for sure! He wasn’t hallucinating, was he? No, no, there had definitely been movement! Nobody could tell him otherwise.

“He- hello?”, Blue called out, grimacing at the strain it put on his chest. “Who… is someone there?”. His voice was hoarse, quiet. Even if he screamed, it wouldn’t carry far. He tightened his grip on his sword.

“Come on now! Don’t hide from me! I... I will…”, he said, but his words broke off, fading into the darkness as something appeared right infront of his very eyes, a shape of the same pulsating light he had seen in the trees. Blue blinked -now he was  _ definitely  _ hallucinating- at the body that slowly formed within the light, someone kneeling next to him, and then a face hovered above him. Smiling. Full of light. But blurry and featureless.

“Hey”, the being said softly and held out it’s hand, gently brushing through Blue’s hair, just like the breeze before. It’s voice felt familiar. The hylian could only stare, his lips trembling in an attempt to speak, before he finally breathed out a question.

“Are you a ghost?”

“Spirit”, the appearance corrected him, still petting the ruffled locks of hair as if Blue was a child in desperate need for comfort.

Blue swallowed, closed his eyes, counted to four. He was hallucinating. Nothing was there. 

He opened his eyes again, meeting the spirit’s green ones. It was still there.

“Why… why do you look like this?”, he asked, moving his sword hand closer to his body. The spirit didn’t even glance at it.

“Because I was born looking like this”, it replied, before it raised it’s other hand to it’s neck, scratching it almost sheepishly. “Or, well, not exactly. You know how it is. The transparency and glow you see happened after I... you know. Had this thing happen.”.

Blue’s breath picked up, despite the repeated stabs into his chest. He stared up at the spirit’s face as it became clearer, more defined, pale freckles appearing on it’s cheeks. Blue’s eyes started itching.

“Green?”

The spirit smiled even wider, continuing to stroke his hair.    
“Yes. Took you a moment to recognize me, hm?”

Blue couldn’t speak, could hardly even think. He could just look up at his friend’s face, a face that hadn’t been smiling the last time he had seen him, but contorted into utter shock, pale and with eyes that held no more light, blankly staring into nothingness. 

“Y-you’re-”, he stammered, his breath hitching. “Y-”

“Shhh…”, Green mumbled, taking his hand away from Blue’s hair and put it to his cheek, ignoring the rapid breaths coming from the injured hylian.

“It will all be okay. I’m here to help you”

“No- Green, you’re- stop-”

“Aren’t you just tired of throwing yourself in danger over and over again? You can rest now, I promise. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To just close your eyes and sleep…”

Blue’s breaths got more and more panicked now, speeding up even though it felt like his lungs couldn’t take all the air he took in. It had to stop! Green had to let go, it hurt him! Having him near hurt!

It felt like he was trying to lift a whole sack of wheat with just one arm, but Blue jerked his arm up, sword cutting through the air and Green’s wispy form, and it felt like glass cutting into his chest. With a hoarse scream Blue’s hand fell down again, sword hitting the grass with a low thud as he curled up, pressing his free hand against his chest.

“Fuck-”, he pressed out, tears welling up in his eyes. “This hurts- Oh Goddess… Shit…”, he whispered, glancing up at the spirit he had just cut down.

Green’s face only showed concern.

“You haven’t changed at all”, he said quietly and reached out, but Blue swung his sword again, clumsy and weak. Green pulled his hand back.

“No!”, Blue panted, tasting iron. “Stay away! You are not… you are not taking me…”. He pushed himself on his back, whimpering as the shards cut deeper, ripping him apart from the inside. “You are dead, Green! And I’m not! I’m sorry for… I’m sorry for what happened to you, but-”, a tear freed himself from his eye and ran down his temple, “I have to go home. Understand? I’m not coming with you”. His voice was barely above a wheeze now, with every new breath he felt like he was getting less air, but that was just because of his panic! He needed to calm down.

“That’s not what I’m trying to do”, Green said, and for a moment Blue thought he could see hurt in the spirit’s eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly.

“Then what else?”, Blue asked, forcing himself to take slower breaths. “Are you here for… revenge then? Do you want to watch me suffer for what I did? Go on then… Not like I can stop you”.

He would deserve it. Green had died by his hand, one precise strike against his neck and his friend had fallen, blood splattering their tunics. In that moment Blue had realized he had fallen for their enemies’ trick. But it had been too late. Illusion magic or not… it had been Green he had struck, tainting the holy blade with their leader’s blood. If Green wanted him to make up for it now, then… well. As he said. He couldn’t stop him.

“No”, Green repeated, shaking his head. “Not revenge”. He stood up from his kneeling position and sat down, pulling his legs closer to his body. The grass he touched didn’t even move.

“I just want to make sure you’re not dying alone”.

Another tear ran down Blue’s face, vanishing into the grass. He didn’t want to cry! He didn’t want to die either! But he knew the truth, even if he was denying it. Whatever was going on in his chest, whatever damage the mace had done, it was too severe. Maybe he could last until morning. Maybe a living soul could find him. But what would they be able to do after all? He would still die, just with a stranger around. Then he much preferred the company of someone he would have laid his life down for.

“...I’m sorry you had to”, Blue muttered, feeling Green’s hand on his hair again. This time, it was fine.

“It was quick”, Green replied, a somber look on his face. “A few seconds. I didn’t really… understand what happened at first. It felt weird”. He turned his head to Blue. “How are you feeling?”

“Terrible”, Blue whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. “Talking hurts. Breathing hurts. It feels like there’s glass shards in my lungs. And something is… something isn’t right with my chest. I can push my hand right into it”.

“We don’t have to talk if it hurts you”, Green said, lowering his head. “I can just wa-”

“No!”, Blue interrupted him, reaching for Green’s arm. It felt like trying to hold onto air, but somehow he managed. “I want to talk! I don’t just want… I don’t just want to lay here and wait”.

Green stayed silent, so he continued.

“I was only trying to protect the people here…”, Blue breathed, blinking a tear away. “Dad wouldn’t let me. He said I should go with the others when it’s daytime. But that doesn’t make sense when attacks happen at night, you know? And… and…”. This horrible noise echoed in his head, wet and crunching as the mace hit his chest and sent him to the ground, followed by immediate pain. He swallowed harshly.

“I don’t want them to find me. I don’t want them to see me like this”, he begged, tightening his grip on Green’s arm. “I couldn’t even look at you, and… and I knew you were gone. I didn’t go to your funeral. It felt so wrong… and I felt so guilty…”

Blue paused to take a breath, deep and painful. It didn’t bring much air down to his lungs and every rising and sinking of his chest caused more anguish, but what he did get felt cool, refreshing almost. He needed this. There was so much he had to say, so much he wanted to say. Green had to know everything!

“Did you know that Red takes up a lot more responsibility now?”, he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching. “The other day he even offered to map out a mission for us- just a draft of course, but he was so excited about it… and I’m so proud of him. He has come so far, Green, did you know that?”

Blue waited for an answer, but Green just smiled down at him and nodded, signaling him to continue. He drew another shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Sweet Hylia, couldn’t it just stop hurting?! Of course he had been hurt before, but this… this was becoming unbearable!

“A-and Vio…”, he whispered, but something stuck in his throat and he coughed, whimpering at the compressing feeling in his chest. It should just stop! “He-”, he tried again, with the same result. And Blue went silent, getting lost in Green’s eyes like there was nothing else in the world.

_ And Vio, he sometimes puts his books away to talk, and I think he’s… I don’t know, it just feels like he’s being more confident without being an arrogant asshole, you know? I didn’t think I could ever talk to him without wanting to punch him within three minutes, but- _

Blue took a breath, more a gasp for air that didn’t find his way into his lungs. Why? What had changed all of a sudden? A tear ran down his temple, sinking into his hair. The leaves that had been rustling above him all this time were gone. The stars dimmed. Only one thing remained.

“Green-”, he choked out, and Green leaned down to him, soft hair brushing over his face.

“Shhh… just close your eyes”, Green muttered, calming, holding eye contact with Blue. But he didn’t want to close his eyes! The world was getting dark and scary, but Green was still there and he didn’t want to, he couldn’t let go of this! No. He needed him. He needed him more than the air that no longer reached him, those eyes so full of warmth despite everything, the cool hand resting on his forehead. 

“Green…”, Blue whispered, barely audible, his last bit of air passing his lips along with the name of his leader, his friend, the one he felt closest to and the one he had killed, and then the world slipped away from him. The last thing he felt was another breeze caressing his lips before that vanished too, leaving him alone in the dark, alone in what was no longer pain, but a feeling of being detached from it all, his body, his world, his everything. And Blue couldn’t even find it in himself to search for a reason in it.

Until he felt something again.

At first he didn’t know what it was. Soft, and touching his… his hand, yes, making it tingle with the sensation of something he felt too tired to recognize. But it felt familiar. He had been touched this gently before, just when? And by who? Goddess… nothing made sense.

Blue blinked slowly, once, twice, until the fog around him lifted and he saw someone next to him, holding his hand. Someone in a green tunic, with sun kissed cheeks and nose and freckles all over his face and ears and hands. Carefully, Blue sat up. It felt so easy now.

“...Green?”, Blue asked, and Green turned his head and looked at him, a smile full of life.

“Yes, Blue?”

“I…”, and then his voice broke and he fell forward, hysterical sobs escaping him. “I’m sorry!”, he cried, his voice carrying into a world that looked wispy, moved by the wind, no longer the realm he had known. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Blue repeated it like a prayer, rocking himself back and forth with his head pressed against his knees. Arms were wrapped around him, pulling him close, and Blue blindly embraced the hug, burying his face in Green’s chest, muffling his sobs. 

“It’s alright”, Green said quietly, gently placing his hand on Blue’s hair. “We have all the time in the world now”

Blue nodded, digging his fingers into Green’s tunic as the first tears fell and he uncontrollably sobbed in Green’s arms while his friend muttered reassurances and let him cry, the rising sun dipping the hills into soft, orange light. 

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, that was my first time writing anything since the glorious days of 2013. Hope you liked it, and thank you very, very much for reading :)   
> And huge thanks to YoumiXxX for getting me back into the groove of writing and proofreading and offering support and ideas through the whole process!


End file.
